The present invention is a method and system for collecting and analyzing operational information from a network of components associated with a liquid energy commodity, such as crude oil or natural gas liquid (NGL).
Liquid energy commodities, such as crude oil, comprise a multi-billion dollar economic market. These commodities are bought and sold by many parties, and as with any traded market, information about the traded commodities is very valuable to market participants. Specifically, the operations of the various components and facilities of the production, transportation, storage, and distribution systems for each of these commodities can have significant impacts on the price and availability of these commodities, making information about said operations valuable. Furthermore, such information generally is not disclosed publicly by the various component owners or operators, and access to said information is therefore limited.
Certain data is collected by organizations such as the United States Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), typically via surveys of selected owners and/or operators. However, the length of time required to collect and compile this data and then disseminate it to the public or market participants can range from days to months, so that the collected and compiled data is usually delayed and of limited value for short-term trading purposes.